Rhubarb Cake with Almonds

Let me preface this recipe with a word of warning! 
This will be my last cake recipe (for a while) because once I make cake,I eat cake and eating cake is not a good idea when you are trying to control your waistline. There I have said it!

Commitment folks! That is what it is! A New Years resolution I am trying to stick to. 

This was brought home to me again after watching another of Dr Michael Moseley's "Trust Me I am a Doctor" series on TV. (Michael is the guy that brought us the 5:2 Intermittent Fasting Plan). The program looked at the best way of losing belly fat. Reduction in the amount of food eaten versus exercise. While the exercised toned - reducing overall portion sizes had the greatest effect. Check out the above link for more information.

With that in mind, my portion sizes are now getting smaller! But with cake, it's impossible to eat it alone so you add cream, ice cream or sour cream. Point taken! No more cake, enjoy this last recipe for a few months until I can report on a reduction of my waist line - way before winter arrives and I start to crave comfort food.

So lets concentrate on this last rhubarb cake recipe, enjoy it, tuck it away and don't look at it any longer than you have to. 

I have a lot of rhubarb in my garden and I tend to use it for desserts only, but I have recently read about how rhubarb makes a great pickle. Now I have made rhubarb chutney, but rhubarb pickled by itself is a whole other story. Keep watching, I may get time to try some soon.

RHUBARB CAKE WITH ALMONDS

       Ingredients

     1 1/2 cups of plain flour
     1 1/4 cup caster sugar
     1 tsp baking powder
     1/2 tsp baking soda
     1/2 tsp ground cardamom
     1/4 tsp almond extract
     1/2 cup almond meal
     1 tsp vanilla extract
     1 tbl icing sugar
     zest of an orange
     1/3 cup flaked almonds
     1/2 cup unsalted butter
     1 cup Greek yoghurt
     1 extra tbs caster sugar
     pinch of salt

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• Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees fan forced.  Line the bottom of a 23 cm springform pan with a round of baking paper. Then generously coat the paper and the sides of the springform pan with butter.  Set aside.

• In a bowl beat 1 cup of the sugar and the butter on medium speed until light and creamy. Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing after each addition. Then beat in the yogurt, orange zest and the extracts.

• Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom and salt in a small bowl. Add these dry ingredients to the cake batter, adding in about one-third at a time, mixing on low speed until all is mixed in thoroughly. You can do this by hand if you don't have a mixer.

• Trim the ends from the rhubarb - discarding the leaves. If the rhubarb stalks are thick, slice them in half lengthwise. Then cut the rhubarb stalks into pieces about 3 - 4 cms in length.

• Spread about half of the thick cake batter into an even layer on the bottom of your prepared springform pan. Place about half of the rhubarb on top in an even layer. Then spread the remaining cake batter over the rhubarb. Arrange the remaining rhubarb pieces on top and sprinkle the flaked almonds and the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar over the top of the cake. This will give a nice caramel crunch to the cake.

• Transfer the cake to your pre-heated oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

• Remove the cake form the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool. Once cooled remove cake from the tin, dust with icing sugar and cut into slices. 

Serves 8

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